Guy Schroeder of Gage Brothers Concrete Products shows a precast wall panel to visitors during the company's open house for employees and their families. / Submitted image

Written by

Jennifer Gerrietts

For the Sioux Falls Business Journal

Mike Kruid, a Poet maintenance technician; Corey Pearson, a plant operator; guest Kama Johnson; and Rob Scroggs, a Poet commodity supervisor; share a laugh during a game show-themed party to celebrate nine years with no lost-time accidents at the ethanol plant in Hudson. / Submitted image

When employees at Gage Brothers Concrete Products designed an annual event for their friends and families, they planned a picnic with a tour of the plant, entertainment and little yellow hardhats for everyone.

At a company where workers routinely put in 50- to 60-hour weeks, the idea of giving their families an idea of what they do every day, mixed in with a little a fun, caught on quickly.

“They made up scripts and went completely out of their element, so they could provide a good experience for their visitors,” said Kathleen Haan-Strong, director of human resources and safety. “They work hard, they do some phenomenal things, and they’re proud of what they do.”

Sioux Falls-based companies report that a strengthening economy is leading some businesses that cut back on employee appreciation to return to rewarding workers. At the same time, the idea of what employees and corporations are looking for might be changing.

Social gatherings, events where employees get to know each other outside the job, remain an important perk nationwide, according to an annual survey by the Society for Human Resource Management.

The organization, which represents more than 250,000 HR professionals nationwide, found that 55 percent of companies still offer an annual company picnic.

“There is a general sense that employees are more engaged when they are recognized for their work,” said S. Evren Esen, manager of the SHRM Survey Research Center.

Esen said companies are using a variety of other employee-appreciation methods, including noncash performance awards, community volunteering, discount and company-purchased tickets, and events such as take-your-child-to-work day. Companies also are increasingly looking to link their company values and mission to rewards for performance.

“Employees have to get a sense that there is a direct sightline between the work they are working on and the company line of vision,” Esen said. “If they don’t see that link, they won’t be as motivated to do that work.”

Culture shift

Corporate culture is shifting in many ways, and that will have a long-term effect on the way companies reward their employees, said John Mollison, owner of Mollison Brand Advocates, which consults with hospitality and food companies in Sioux Falls and nationwide. The way people are doing work is different, which changes the way that companies reward their employees for that work, he said.

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“For me to do what I do today, 40 years ago would have taken a staff of eight. And now I can do it with a staff of two,” Mollison said. “Having a vacation anymore doesn’t mean anything. Going away from the office doesn’t mean anything. We do the work when it needs to be done.”

When Mollison works with national restaurant chains, food manufacturers, advocacy groups and franchises, their employees are looking for flexibility in scheduling and individualized perks, not company picnics, he said. Instead of gathering for a party, younger employees would rather see themselves as working for a “winning company,” he said.

“Companies are now being judged by employees on the basics, ethics and character,” Mollison said. “You don’t just get that by treating a swath of employees to a picnic and taking them out to pick up trash.”

Poet, a Sioux Falls-based company that designs, operates and builds ethanol plants, handles much of its employee- appreciation events at the local level, said Colleen Stratton, senior vice president of human resources. With 27 locations, the approach allows workers to help decide how they want to celebrate successes or recognize each other, she said.

“It’s always been part of our culture at Poet,” Stratton said. “Our people are our biggest assets, so we want them to be engaged in our company and our community.”

While Poet employees do participate in some companywide events, the business tries to allow workers in each location to choose what they want to do, from parties to gifts.

Company leaders have lunch regularly with workers at each plant and often tie in events with quarterly team meetings and training, Stratton said. New hires are brought into the company with breakfasts and meet-and-greet events to help everyone get to know each other.

“It’s nice to be recognized, even if in very simple ways,” Stratton said. “Anytime you can get team members together in order to have fun or to get to network, it’s team building.”

At Gage Brothers, employees still respond well to gifts of corporate logo wear, Haan-Strong said. Workers get perks including time off on their birthdays and employee breakfasts for projects completed with overtime hours.

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When the company decided last year to revive a tradition of tours tied in with a company picnic, those workers were more excited than anyone expected, she said. Employees also recently asked their leadership to resume a community service project – serving at The Banquet, which hadn’t been done in years. Many are even giving up the chance for overtime to serve, she said.

“Employees came back to us and said they wanted to give back,” Haan-Strong said. “When you connect their job and their families, what’s important to them, they appreciate it.”

Picnics pick up

Even in the years when the economy was faltering, Lewis Drugs Inc. didn’t cut back on employee-appreciation events, said Traci Lund, the company’s director of human resources.

“When you’re part of a family organization, what better opportunity to get the family together?” Lund said. “We’re fortunate to have people who have been with us for generations, 20, 30, 40 years.”

Lewis employees are involved in planning for the annual company picnic and for smaller events, such as luncheons for birthdays or company milestones, Lund said. The company is seeing increased interest in both recognition for workers and participation in charity events and volunteering. It’s good for the workers and the company, she said.

“When they feel appreciated, that is extended to our guests,” Lund said. “That’s what we are all about.”

After several years on hiatus, the city of Sioux Falls is reinstating its annual picnic for city employees and their families. Several years ago, at a time when many businesses and organizations were cutting back, it made sense for the city to spend its money elsewhere, said Bill O’Toole, the city’s human resources director.

“Our employees understood when it went away,” O’Toole said. “Now, we’re glad we can bring it back.”

The event at the Great Plains Zoo & Delbridge Museum of Natural History is part of a general effort to show workers that they are appreciated, O’Toole said.

In the past few years, the city has worked to give employees better avenues for direct communication and feedback, O’Toole said, including opportunities to talk with Mayor Mike Huether.

Employees are telling the city that while compensation and benefits are always a top concern, the way workers are treated and information is shared is also important, O’Toole said.

“If the culture works, everything works better,” he said. “You want to create those conditions and do what you can do to make everyone happier.”